Certificate in Practical Finance and Accounting

Course overview

Course outline

1. 1Day 1: The Business Accounting System

   • Why we need accounting systems
   • Identification, recording and understanding transactions in the accounting system
   • The income statement (statement of comprehensive income)
   • The balance sheet (statement of financial position)
   • The statement of cash flows
   • Applying accounting concepts, financial reporting standards, and professional judgment
2. 2Day 2: Analysing and Interpreting the Annual Financial Report

   • Presentation of the financial statements
   • Differences between assets and expenses
   • Depreciation of long-term assets
   • Inventory costs and cost of goods sold (COGS)
   • Analysis of the financial statements
   • Interpretation of the financial statements
3. 3Day 3: Management Accounting

   • Management accounting for effective communication and decision-making
   • Identifying product costs and measuring output
   • Cost-volume-profit (CVP) and break-even analysis
   • Preparing and using budgets to plan and control the organization
   • Actual to budget performance comparison
   • Using variance analysis to drive performance improvement
4. 4Day 4: Financing and Hedging Financial Risk

   • Overview of financial institutions and markets
   • Sourcing and raising finance
   • Choice of the most appropriate financing
   • Return on investment and cost of capital
   • Foreign currency transactions
   • Managing exchange rate and interest rate risk
5. 5Day 5: Maintaining Growth Through Value-Adding Investment

   • Identifying value-adding capital investment opportunities
   • Investment appraisal using ARR and payback
   • Discounted cash flow techniques: NPV and IRR
   • Making investment choices when funds are limited
   • Risk and uncertainty
   • Incorporating risk into the investment decision